Aftermath
by DanielFactoid
Summary: [complete]Jack deals with Daniel's death.


"Aftermath"

Directly after "Meridian"

SPOILERS: Fifth-season "Meridian". (The picture is from another one of my fics, "Finishing Touches".)

Dedicated to all Stargate fans who like Daniel- this was in remembrance of him. And, of course, to Laura- my crazy friend.

Jack's face creased into a small, half-smile. The smile was not one of happiness or joy- strangely enough, it was one of regret and sorrow.

The smile had been brought about by one of Jack's "team photos". This particular photograph was of a Christmas party last year, at Sam Carter's house.

The picture was an odd one, but one of Jack's favorites. The camera had been a timer, and Daniel had been in charge of setting it. After he'd set it for ten seconds, he'd been so nervous about getting in the picture that he'd nearly run back to the other four and tripped, his elbow neatly running into Jack's crotch.

The camera had framed Teal'C smiling and laughing a little at the extremely painful look on Jack's face. Jack, pained as he might be, was still laughing a bit. Sam and Janet were grinning like Cheshire cats and Daniel was right in the center of the group, his glasses askew. He was grinning, but was blushing and looked extremely embarrassed as well. He was crouching in front of the other four, and everyone else in the room knew that nothing meant more to him in the world than them.

Present-day Jack's finger gently touched the photographed Daniel's face. As he did so, Daniel's voice rang through his head, not saying anything important, just rambling on about ancient civilization.

_If only you knew how important it was to me, Danny-Boy... _

A few bitter tears of hatred for that stupid, sonofbitch- Jonas' world leaked out of Jack's eyes.

Jack wiped away the tears that Daniel wouldn't have wanted Jack to have. If Daniel could've spoken to Jack, he would have said not to hate Jonas and his people. He would have said it was his choice, his choice to turn off that damn bomb.

But Daniel couldn't talk to him.

And Jack hated Jonas.

And Jonas' jackass- people.

And Jack didn't really give a shit what Daniel would have said to _that, _because Jack had never really followed Daniel's advice anyway. But he had always listened...

Jack wanted to get away from his thoughts. He turned on the power button on a borrowed TV and popped a tape into the VCR. He pressed play and sat back.

Daniel's face appeared directly in front of the TV, as though he were squashed against the camera.

_"Are you sure it's on, Sam"_ asked Daniel from the tape.

_"Yes, Daniel, it's on, can you move away from the screen" _

The Daniel on the TV backed away from the camera, and Jack had to smile at Daniel, just being... _Daniel_.

"Uhm... Colonel O'Neill"

Jack automatically paused the tape and turned around to face his visitor.

"What the _hell_ could you _possibly_ want" he said to Jonas as rude as he could.

Jonas did not look shocked at Jack's behavior- in fact, he looked like he was expecting it.

"I just wanted to say how sorry I am... Is that Dr. Jackson"

Jack turned back to the video"Yep, that's... that's him. With long hair."

There was an awkward pause, and Jack began the video again, watching and smiling as they prepared for Jack's surprise party they'd held for him three years ago.

"Colonel O'Neill... I came here today to see if we could get along."

Jack didn't even turn to Jonas"The best friend I will ever have is gone because _your_ stupid, assholic country had to go ahead and build some bomb. What makes you think I _want_ to get along with you"

Jonas didn't say anything and Jack was able to watch his video in peace.

"Just... before I go, Colonel..."

"What"

"Is 'assholic' really a word"

"If it isn't, then Daniel made it up. While he was drunk. With me."

Sam walked through the halls as though she was a 'bad dog', her head down and, if she had a tail, it would've been between her legs.

Sam passed Colonel O'Neill's room, and stopped. Three voices could be heard singing 'Oh He's a Jolly Good Fellow', and a loud sneeze followed. One person said, 'Oh, crap, it's all over the cake', and another said, 'Yes, I've always wanted to eat Daniel's boogers.'

This brought back memories. Sam's eyes flooded with tears. Her brain had still not comprehended that Daniel was dead. He was just on vacation, albeit a very long one.

At least, that was what her brain was telling her.

Sam turned back and walked into Jack's room.

"Hi, Carter" Jack managed to squeak out.

"Hi... sir. Home videos"

"Yeah..."

Sam stood in the doorway, crying silently. Hundreds of tears flowed down her face, and Jack stood up and walked over to her.

"Come here" he said, his arms outstretched.

Sam walked into his embrace and they hugged and cried together. When they finally let go, they watched the rest of the video in fond memory of Daniel Jackson, their friend who'd died for millions.

4


End file.
